Why I Love Paul Smith’s Tour de France Posters

The posters work together individually, and as a whole.Each poster works when viewed on its own, and when viewed side by side. The posters are part of a carefully considered design system. The designer created iconic shapes using the outlines of the different Tour de France routes.

The designs are graphically interesting, but also meaningful.This is a great example of something we are always trying to achieve with our UX designs at Catalyst – the balance of function and beauty. At first glance, the posters felt abstract to me, almost like torn paper. After a few seconds I noticed the hand-drawn arrows, which show the routes of each stage of the race.

The posters got me excited.I never had any interest in the Tour de France, but seeing these posters made me want to check it out. Something about them changed the way I thought about the Tour de France. I guess that’s the power of design – it can inspire someone to do something they never would have done before.